Miscellaneous

Boise State to Host 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball TournamentThe tournament will return to Boise for the ninth time in 2018

Nov. 17, 2014INDIANAPOLIS -
Boise State University will host first- and second-round games of the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, the tournament committee announced Monday. It will mark the ninth time Taco Bell Arena plays host to the tournament. The 2018 Final Four will take place in San Antonio.

Taco Bell Arena last hosted the NCAA Tournament in 2009. Boise also served as a site for the men's tournament in 1983, 1989, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2005. Taco Bell Arena hosted the west regional of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament in 2002.

"We're excited to get the tournament back in Boise," said Boise State Director of Athletics Mark Coyle. "One of the most common things I hear from Bronco fans is they would really like to see the NCAA tournament come back to Taco Bell Arena. Our staff worked really hard to put together a competitive bid and we look forward to hosting the tournament."

Boise State will host games Thursday (March 15) and Saturday (March 17) in the first and second rounds, respectively. Fellow Mountain West member San Diego State will also be a host for the first and second rounds in 2018.

Some of the tournament's most memorable games have taken place in Boise. In 2001 15th-seeded Hampton defeated Iowa State in the first round on a day where four games in Taco Bell Arena were decided by a combined seven points. Tyus Edney's coast-to-coast buzzer-beater to lift UCLA over Missouri in 1995 also happened in Boise before the Bruins went on to win the national championship that year.

The committee also announced Monday that the rounds of 64 and 32 will again be referred to as the first and second rounds. Since the field expanded to 68 teams prior to the 2011 tournament, the rounds of 64 and 32 were referred to as the second and third rounds, with the first round consisting of four games on the first two days of the tournament to whittle the field from 68 to 64. Those games, known officially as the First Four, will continue to take place in Dayton, Ohio, through at least 2018.